PCSOs take over policing the streets as beat officers are redeployed, inspectors find

Police community support officers have taken over patrolling the streets in
some areas as stretched forces redeploy regular beat bobbies to respond to
999 calls and investigate offences, inspectors warned today.

Police community support officers (PCSOs) are now the mainstay of neighbourhood policing in some areas, inspectors have foundPhoto: ALAMY

The shift risks “eroding” the traditional British system of neighbourhood policing where the local constable on the ground prevents crime and reassures people, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary said.

PCSOs, cheaper uniformed staff dismissed by critics as “plastic bobbies”, and unpaid Special Constables now provide the foundation for beat patrols in many parts of the country, a report found.

Forces are even extending the remit of PCSOs, who are having to attend incidents for which they have not been fully trained to cover for warranted officers diverted to emergencies.

The report noted that neighbourhood officers who traditionally focused on proactive work to tackle the underlying causes of crime in their areas were now also required to carry out investigations, interview witnesses, and respond to 999 calls.

It said: "Officers therefore may still be described, and officially counted, as neighbourhood officers, but are actually doing much wider policing work.

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"As a result, PCSOs - who do not have warrants, and therefore, for instance, cannot make arrests - are now the mainstay of community policing in some areas.”

Some warranted officers who once patrolled the beat told the inspectors: “We don’t do the walking and talking any more”.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham warned of a risk that forces would end up reacting to crime instead of trying to prevent it.

“Neighbourhood policing in our view is the cornerstone of the British policing model. It is not a ‘nice to have’,” she said.

Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, echoed her fears, saying: “There is a serious concern that, as the number of staff reduce, we lose our capacity to do preventative and proactive work and just react to things after they have happened.”

Chief Superintendent Irene Curtis, president of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales, said that the £2.4 billion cut in police budgets and 31,600 reduction in staff numbers being brought in over five years could lead to neighbourhood policing being lost altogether in some areas.

Steve Williams, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, added: “If this form of preventative policing is falling by the wayside, then how many crimes are now going unreported because an officer is not there to spot suspicious behaviour?”

Bedfordshire, one of the smallest constabularies in the country, is one area where neighbourhood policing is now largely carried out by PCSOs, the inspectors found.

Because of its size the force was singled out by HMIC as one of five in England and Wales that will find it particularly difficult to cope with further budget cuts after 2015.

The Government has recently shifted its position on the idea of smaller forces merging, with Damian Green, the Policing Minister, saying earlier this month that he had “nothing against” an amalgamation if it is supported by the elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and the local community.

However, Tom Winsor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, stressed today that it was “not inevitable” that some forces would merge over the next five years. “I don’t know if it’s likely, it really depends on the PCCs,” he added.

Olly Martins, the PCC for Bedfordshire, said he had written to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, asking for more money from central Government and for greater flexibility to increase the amount the force charges local council tax payers.